Spontaneous Night Adventures: Dance, Dance, Dance … PHOTOS

One favorite feature of Cultural Routes is our “Night Adventures.” Most night adventures take students to sites that extend our learning, questioning, and reflection. Sometimes a night adventure is designed to help students release steam and have fun while exploring hidden parts of a city. All night adventures are created to keep students out of trouble. Tonight the police closed down our night adventure. 🙂

We had a late dinner at my friend’s restaurant. CR has shared dinner at El Gordo Loco every year, and Martin loves serving his Mexican-Colombian dishes. He also enjoys celebrating birthdays. So, because we have no birthday taking place on the CR experience, we celebrated the two most recent birthdays—Kendall and Madeline both share April 21. The first surprise of our night adventure, then, was the loud and bright birthday celebration of song, dangerous sparklers, and nonalcoholic cocktails. The second surprise was Martin opening up his small restaurant to student dancing. For a good 45 minutes, CR danced the night away; the waitress and bartender demonstrated some classic but not always classy moves; three LSU students joined the crowd. Music was blaring, and the place was pumping.

Then two German policeman walked in and took Martin outside. I followed outside to listen and offer help if needed. They lectured him for throwing a party with loud music and what must be a raging drinkfest. Martin’s response: “These kids are from Texas. They are students and they are not drinking. They are dancing! See, there is their professor. He too is from Texas!” Apparently that was enough; the German police laughed, joked about Texas, and let Martin off with a warning.

Enjoy the photos … there is no way they will capture the fun and enjoyment shared by the students. They needed and earned this night adventure!